Rude exit by Yanks

Bobby Valentine perplexed by departure after 9 innings

Credit: AP

PAINFUL SIGHT: Dustin Pedroia reacts after being hit by a pitch during last night’s game against the Yankees in Fort Myers.

FORT MYERS — Bobby Valentine was fit to be tied.

The Red Sox had just tied last night’s game, 4-4, on Jason Repko’s suicide squeeze in the ninth inning when Yankees manager Joe Girardi appealed to the umpires to not play a 10th. And when Pedro Ciriaco struck out with the winning run on third base, the game abruptly ended and the Yankees boarded their bus for the two-hour drive to Tampa.

“I don’t think that was very courteous,” Valentine said. “I don’t know. I haven’t been around a long time. Joe knows better than I. I guess you just walk off the field.”

Valentine was irritated mostly because reliever Clayton Mortensen already had warmed up to pitch the 10th inning. Mortensen, acquired from the Colorado Rockies in the Marco Scutaro trade, is a longshot to make the team out of camp.

Girardi explained that the Yankees had run out of pitchers, although Valentine was skeptical. They used five pitchers during the game, and another, right-hander D.J. Mitchell, was unavailable after throwing a side session during the game. But the Yankees had 12 pitchers listed on their travel roster.

“We used a lot in the last few innings,” Girardi said. “We’ve got a long day (today), too. We need pitching, and I don’t want to run out.”

Said Valentine, “They had plenty of pitching. Probably too long of a ride. I don’t care about not playing. It’s just, why do I have to warm up my pitcher who’s trying to make a team? Come in in a tie game against the Yankees and maybe help him make a team, and instead he has to walk off the mound and take a shower. That’s just not very courteous.

“I’m sure he didn’t do anything deliberate. It’s just, I have to answer to a pitcher who’s trying to make the team. I don’t set protocol. I’m learning.”

Pedroia out

Dustin Pedroia left the game with a bruised right forearm after being hit by a pitch that he swung at from Yankees starter Adam Warren in the third inning. X-rays were negative and the Red Sox don’t believe the injury is serious. Nevertheless, Pedroia won’t play today against the Orioles in Sarasota, Fla.

Pedroia didn’t make himself available for comment.

Something’s cooking

Aaron Cook made another impressive bid to win a rotation spot, allowing two runs on four hits in four innings, picking off two runners and throwing his signature sinker to induce six groundouts. By now, the biggest question may be whether his arm will be stretched out enough to open the season on time after a slow start to spring training.

“If I’m able to work quick, keep the ball on the ground, let the defense play behind me, I think I can definitely get up to seven innings,” Cook said after throwing 48 pitches. “Once you get to seven innings you’ve reached that threshold of going deep into games. Once the season starts, there’s another adrenaline that takes over and can take you quite a few more pitches deeper into the game.” .â€‰.â€‰.

Rather than waste his bullets on the Yankees, Josh Beckett allowed two runs on six hits and struck out six batters in six innings against the Orioles’ Single-A players.

Historic case

Ultimately, players’ union chief Michael Weiner was pleased David Ortiz and the Red Sox agreed on a salary hours before a scheduled arbitration hearing last month. But Weiner also can’t deny that a hearing would’ve been a fascinating event.

Most arbitration hearings involve players with less than six years of major-league service. But Ortiz is a veteran with a salary ($14.575 million) much greater than most arbitration-eligible players. And because Ortiz is a Red Sox icon, Weiner believes it would have been difficult for him to lose a hearing.

“The Basic Agreement criteria were almost tailor-made for David Ortiz,” Weiner said after holding his annual spring-training meeting with Red Sox players. “It talks about the overall contributions of the player to the competitive success of the team, including special qualities of leadership and public appeal. You could almost spend an hour on every one of those words with David.”

Weiner also said players across the majors have overwhelmingly supported the addition of another wild card team.

Dice-K rolling

When spring training started, Daisuke Matsuzaka predicted he will return to the mound for the Red Sox before anyone expects. So far, so good.

Nine months removed from Tommy John elbow surgery, Matsuzaka pitched two simulated innings on a practice field, after which Valentine said the Red Sox have charted his return to the majors as closer to June 1 than to July 1. He had surgery on June 10 of last year. .â€‰.â€‰.

Two days after straining his left hamstring, lefty Andrew Miller still was walking gingerly with a wrap on his thigh. Right-hander Vicente Padilla, also nursing a hamstring injury, is closer to returning.